The Icypoles - My World Was Made For You

"The Icypoles have made a fabulous record," writes Larry Day.

A band comprising members of Architecture In Helsinki, spoon-fed a diet rich in '60s doo-wop and girl groups is always going to score high on the Twee Scale. It's inescapable – especially when the debut LP is also produced by someone linked to the sculpting of AIH's broader style, namely behind-the-scenes regular, Haima Marriott. Tara Shackell and Isobel Knowles, formerly of the Australian twindie-pop outfit, have already got themselves slapped with a superglue label of sickly sweet proportions in their new troupe, The Icypoles.

The Melbourne-based Icypoles ensure that while their first album My World Was Made For You does contain unavoidable streaks of syrupy gloop, they also infuse it with some wildly original facets for our perusal. There's lo-fi surf-pop tones in abundance, '60s pop harmonies (inspired apparently by a love of The Shangri-Las) and dreamy waves of sparse early-morning sleepiness. There's splatterings of Best Coast and Hospitality (and Architecture In Helsinki). The cool, languorous zephyrs that breeze through their guitar'n'bass'n'drums melee drag the quartet through taffy-coated barbed wire and confetti landmines into SoCal's raddest locales. While Splenda-sweet, Icypoles contain fervent individualism that makes them less cloying and more addictive.

Lead single 'Babies' employs intriguing vocal rhythms and a cappella hallmarks to form a kind of air-conditioned indie-pop – imagine The xx spending a bank holiday on the beach. Punctuated by enormous kick drum thwomps, and a plethora of percussive thwacks, this spacious ditty is all about the rhythms. 'Don't Fall In Love' features similarly inventive beats (this time shuffling in grunge-waltz glory) between the pensive, lolloping bouts of lovelorn balladry. 'Just You' is one of the best examples of their '60s-tinged doo-wop sound; it's hopelessly romantic, but utterly sincere, and all the better for it. There's no aloof imagery here, it's just a pure, damask ode to love. 'Love Thy Will Be Done' is uncharacteristically bombastic – the hooks are huge folk-pop earworms, the pace, via a jaunty motorik, is unbridled. It's a nice expansion of their talents, and will definitely get lodged in your cranium.

There are, sadly, some cringeworthy moments. 'Round n Round' almost sounds like it's borrowing from 'The Wheels On The Bus', 'Happy Birthday' contains an actual rendition of 'Happy Birthday', and 'Tararara' is assonance gibberish smothered in tambourines. It's not that these tracks are inherently awful, but as you're bobbing your head along to the bubbling indie-pop lightness, they stumble into passages that'll make you shudder. Totes awks. That said, these foibles are both fleeting and rare.

The Icypoles have made a fabulous record. Twee is something of a rude word in this day and age, but it shouldn't be. The endless optimism and beachfront pep isn't something to shun, it's something to adore. We should marvel at the quaint delirium bazooka'd by the Australian foursome; there's a few missteps, but on the whole, they've crafted a brilliant amalgam of summery American genres and coastal bliss. Twee might be a bad word to some grumpy ol' codgers, but hopefully My World Was Made For You will melt those hearts with its fiery combo of impassioned puppy-eyed romance, pop ingenuity and relentless sweetness.

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